Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-02-28


are honest; but suppose we we're
placed in some path Of life, as many of
Gods children have been, where all the
forces of earth and hell combine to
capture the soul? Without Jesus We
would 90 down under it. If already We
have been beaten by insignificant foot
men, we would be distanced ten thousand
leagues by the horses. All, l don't like
to hear man say: az could not commit
such a sin as that. can't understand
how man could be carried away like
that" You don't know what you could
do if the grace of God lets you. You
know what job 3unysn said when he
saw man staggering along the street,
thoroughly emb. uted in his habits. He
said: "There goes John Bunyan, but for
the grace of God" l can say when | see
one utterly fallen: There goes Dewitt
Talmage, but for the grace of Cod" If
we have been delivered from temptation
it Is because the strong arm of
the Lord Almighty has been about
US, and not because We were any better
than they. It is or, at folly to borrow
trouble. If We can meet the misfortunes
of to-day we will be able to meet the
troubles of tomorrow; but suppose now.
we are overthrown by small sorrows.
does not our common sense teach US that
we cannot stand up against great ones?
If we cannot carry pound can we carry
1000 pounds? Ii we are discounted com
ing into battle with one regiment, bri-
gade will cut Us TO pieces. Ii We are I'M
fit to cope with one small trial, won't we
be overcome by greater ones? II the
go ba
odds be more fearful against US when we
contend with horses? l thank God that
some of his dear children have been de-
livered. How was it that Paul could
say "Sorrowful, yet always reioicing
poor, yet making many rich; having
nothing, yet possessing all things?"
And David, the psalmist, scars
Iup into the rock Of Gods
strength and becomes thoroughly
composed amid all his sorrows, saying
"God is our refuge and strength, q very
present help in the time of trouble; there
fore, will not we fear though the earth be
removed, though the mountains be cast
into the midst Of the sea- though the
| waters thereof roar and be troubled,
though the mountains shake with the
swelling thereof. Selah."
But my text suggests something in sd
vance of anything have said. We must
all quit this life. However sound our
health may be, it must break down; how
ever good our title be to houses, land and
estates, we must surrender them. We
will hear voice bidding US away from al
these places. We will have to start on q
pilgrimage from which w can never
come back. We will have seen for the
last time the evening star, and
watched the last summer cloud
and felt the breath of the
| spring wind for the last time. Hands OF
loved ones may be stretched oat to hold
US back, but they canuot-go we must
About all other exits and changes we
may trihe, but not about this. Stipend
GUS moment of life-quitting Oh, when
the great tides of eternity arise about US,
and fill the soul and surround it, and
sweep it out towards rapture or woe, ali
that will be "the swelling of Jordann
l know people sometimes talk very
merriIy about the departure from this
life. l am sorry to hear it. But men dc
make fun of the passage from one worlC
to another. Byron joked a great dea
about it, but when it came he shiveret
with horror. Many an intldel has scoffed
at the idea of fearing a future world, but
lying upon his pillow in the last hour his
teeth have chattered with terror. | saw
in Westminster Abbey, an epitaph which
poet ordered to be put upon his tomb
Life Is Jest,
nd a things show 1t.
l thought 50 ce,
| But now l know 1t.
thought how lnapt that, in place o.
sepulcher, men should try their witt,
cisms. A great German, having rejected
Christ, in his last moment said: "Glvt
me light, give me light" Oh, we may
be smart with our witticism about the
last hour; but when it comes, and the
tides are rising, and the surf is beating
and the winds are bowling, we will each
one, my brethren, find for himself, that il
is "the swelling of Jordan" Our nat
ural courage won't hold out then. How
ever familiar We may have been witt
scenes of mortality, however much WE
may have screwed our courage up, We
want something more than natural re-
sources. When the northeast vino
blows off from the SEES
of death, it will put out all earthly lights
The lamp of the Gospel, God-lighted, is
inc Ouly IdLup ludI Cdu Slduu III ludL DlSSt
The weakest arm holding that shall not
| be COMPOUNDED; the strongest one reject
ing that shall stumble and die. NheE
the Jordan rises in It's wrath. the first
dash of it's wave will swamp
them forever. We feel how sad it is fol
a man TO attempt this life without relig.
ion. We see what 8 doleful thing it is
for man to go down into the misfor.
tunes Of life without Christian solace
but if that be so, how much more ter
rible when that man comes face to face
| with the solemni.ies of the last hour
Oh, if in the bright sunshine of health
and prosperity man felt the need OF
something better, how will he feel when
the shadows of the last hour gather above
his pillow? II in the warmth
of worldly prosperity he was sometimes
dsmsyed, how will he feel when the last
chill Creeps over him? If while things
were comparatively smooth he was dis
quoted, what will he do in the sgonies of
dissolution? "If, in the land of peace in
which he trusted, they wearied him,
what will he do amid the swelling OF
Jordan?n
On, l rejoice to know that so many of
Gods children have gone through that
pass without a shudder! Some one said
| to @ diving Christian. HIsn't il hard for